The good news about Spanish pronunciation is that it obeys clear phonetic rules, although people do speak with different accents, depending on their region and background.
Vowels
Each of the five vowels has its own clear sharp sound:
a as in hat
e as in pet i as in feet o as in clock u as in drew
c's and z's
The famous Castilian lisp, that sounds like the English 'th' in thick, is applied to ce, ci and z.
You find it in centro, plaza and in names like Cibeles and Preciados. Latin American and southern Spanish speakers, though, pronounce these sounds as an 's'.
When c
is followed by the other vowels it's always a hard 'k' sound, as in calle, Cuenca,
Colombia.
j's and g's
J, as in Jardines, is a harder, stronger version of the English 'h'.
G, when followed by e and i, sounds exactly the same as
j. Otherwise, it is pronounced as the English 'g' in go.
ll's
The double ll, as in calle, is another characteristic Spanish sound. It's like the 'lli' in the English million but you can also hear it pronounced like the 'y' in yes.
